Abstract:
X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, and mass spectrometry have been used to study the products of nickel-containing pyrrhotite tailings oxidation by oxygen in the air. The kinetic triplets of oxidation, namely, activation energy (
Ea), pre-exponential factor (
A), and reaction model (
f(
α)) being a function of the conversion degree (
α), were adjusted by regression analysis. In case of a two-stage process representation, the first step proceeds under autocatalysis control and ends at
α = 0.42. The kinetic triplet in the first step is
Ea = 262.2 kJ/mol, lg
A = 14.53 s
−1, and
f(
α) = (1 –
α)
4.11(1 + 1.51 × 10
–4α). For the second step, the process is controlled by the two-dimensional diffusion of the reactants in the layer of oxidation products. The kinetic triplet in the second step is
Еa = 215.0 kJ/mol, lg
A = 10.28 s
−1, and
f(
α) = (–ln(1 –
α))
–1. The obtained empirical formulae for the rate of pyrrhotite tailings oxidation reliably describe the macro-mechanism of the process and can be used to design automatization systems for roasting these materials.